Yes, you can call something X all you like. That does not mean the law (or specifically, the courts) will actually treat it as X. DC specifically changed the t

Yes, you can call something X all you like. That does not mean the law (or specifically, the courts) will actually treat it as X. DC specifically changed the terminology of its "royalty" payments because they were not actually royalties, but calling them royalties was causing headaches for its legal dept with respect to licensing, because the existence of "royalty" payments implied that DC was not the owner of the IP, and thus that they had to seek additional licenses from the actual owners of the IP.) And that is why Marvel switched away from calling them royalties a long time ago. Copyright law has a special regime for enforcement. I.e., statutory damages, etc. It applies in addition to relief available under contract law. However, for "royalty" payments that aren't actually royalties, only contract law remedies are available.